Search results for: entrepreneurial activities

Authors: B. Urban

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International entrepreneurship represents the process of discovering and creatively exploiting opportunities that exist outside a firm’s national borders in order to obtain a competitive advantage. Firms in emerging economies are increasingly looking towards internationalisation since they are faced with rising competition in their domestic markets and attracted to opportunities in foreign markets. This article investigates international entrepreneurship by examining how the influence of entrepreneurial intensity and capabilities at the firm level influence performance, while at the same time considering environmental influences on this relationship. Based on past theoretical and empirical findings, hypotheses are formulated and then tested using correlational and regression analysis. Generally, the results support the hypotheses where both entrepreneurial intensity and capabilities are positively related to internationalisation and firm performance, while weak evidence is found for environmental hostility as a moderating influence. Several recommendations are made in light of the findings, where it is suggested that firms foster higher levels of innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness while developing human, social and technology related capabilities in order to enhance their performance and increase their levels of internationalisation.

Keywords: international entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intensity, capabilities, firm performance, exporting, South Africa

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Authors: Stephen Oduro

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With a quantitative research design, this study seeks to analyze how, an intangible resource, Organisational Unlearning shapes the relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Innovation Outcomes among social entrepreneurship organizations in Ghana. The Resource-Based View (RBV) of the firm and EO-Performance Contingency framework was adopted as the underpinning theories of the study. Entrepreneurial Orientation dimensions, namely Innovativeness, Autonomy, Risk-Taking, Proactiveness, and Competitive aggressiveness were examined to determine its significant, direct influence on the Innovation Outcomes of the social enterprises in Ghana. Organizational Unlearning dimensions, specifically examination of lens fitting, the consolidation of emergent understandings, and framework for changing individual habits were explored to determine whether they strengthen or weaken the direct nexus between Entrepreneurial Orientation dimensions and Innovation Outcomes. A self-administered questionnaire was administered to 556 targeted social enterprises across Africa through online questionnaire platform and the data generated and proposed hypotheses were analyzed and tested using Structural Equation Model-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS 3) statistical tool. The findings revealed that EO dimensions, specifically proactiveness, autonomy, innovativeness, and risk-taking are positively related to IO, but we found no significant support for competitive aggressiveness. The findings, moreover, divulged that the positive, direct relationship between EO and IO is highly strengthened by OU. It is concluded that OU fully moderates the direct link between EO and IO. The present study contributes to the our understanding of the interrelationship among Entrepreneurial Orientation, Organizational Unlearning, and Innovation Outcomes in the social entrepreneurship context.

Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation, innovation outcomes, organizational unlearning, RBV, SEM-PLS, social enterprise, Africa

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Authors: Yuki Hara

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Entrepreneurs are welcomed to the landscaping industry, conserving practically and theoretically biological diversity in landscaping construction, although there are limited reports on corporative trials making a market with a new logistics system of native plants (NP) between landscaping companies and nurserymen. This paper explores the entrepreneurial process of a landscaping company, “5byMidori” for NP marketing. This paper employs a case study design. Data are collected in interviews with the manager and designer of 5byMidori, 2 scientists, 1 organization, and 18 nurserymen, fieldworks at two nurseries, observations of marketing activities in three years, and texts from published documents about the business concept and marketing strategy with NP. These data are analyzed by qualitative methods. The results show that NP is suitable for the vision of 5byMidori improving urban desertified environment with closer urban-rural linkage. Professional landscaping team changes a forestry organization into NP producers conserving a large nursery of a mountain. Multifaceted PR based on the entrepreneurial context and personal background of a landscaping venture can foster team members' businesses and help customers and users to understand the biodiversity value of the product. Wider partnerships with existing nurserymen at other sites in many regions need socio-economic incentives and environmental reliability. In conclusion, the entrepreneurial marketing of a landscaping company needs to add more meanings and a variety of merits in terms of ecosystem services, as NP tends to be in academic definition and independent from the cultures like nurseryman and forestry.

Keywords: biological diversity, landscaping industry, marketing, native plants

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Authors: Kenechukwu Ikebuaku

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Entrepreneurship has long been offered as the panacea for poor economic growth and high rate of unemployment. Business incubation is considered an effective means for enhancing entrepreneurial actitivities while engendering socio-economic development. Information Technology Developers Entrepreneurship Accelerator (iDEA), is a software business incubation programme established by the Nigerian government as a means of boosting digital entrepreneurship activities and reducing unemployment in the country. This study assessed the contribution of iDEA Nigeria’s entrepreneurship programmes towards enhancing the capabilities of its tenants. Using the capability approach and the sustainable livelihoods approach, the study analysed iDEA programmes’ contribution towards the expansion of participants’ entrepreneurial capabilities. Apart from identifying a set of entrepreneurial capabilities from both the literature and empirical analysis, the study went further to ascertain how iDEA incubation has helped to enhance those capabilities for its tenants. It also examined digital entrepreneurship as a valued functioning and as an intermediate functioning leading to other valuable functioning. Furthermore, the study examined gender as a conversion factor in digital entrepreneurship. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for the study, and measurement of key variables was made. While the entire population was utilised to collect data for the quantitative research, purposive sampling was used to select respondents for semi-structured interviews in the qualitative research. However, only 40 beneficiaries agreed to take part in the survey while 10 respondents were interviewed for the study. Responses collected from questionnaires administered were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS. The study developed indexes to measure the perception of the respondents, on how iDEA programmes have enhanced their entrepreneurial capabilities. The Capabilities Enhancement Perception Index (CEPI) computed indicated that the respondents believed that iDEA programmes enhanced their entrepreneurial capabilities. While access to power supply and reliable internet have the highest positive deviations around mean, negotiation skills and access to customers/clients have the highest negative deviation. These were well supported by the findings of the qualitative analysis in which the participants unequivocally narrated how the resources provided by iDEA aid them in their entrepreneurial endeavours. It was also found that iDEA programmes have a significant effect on the tenants’ access to networking opportunities, both with other emerging entrepreneurs and established entrepreneurs. While assessing gender as a conversion factor, it was discovered that there was very low female participation within the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem. The root cause of this gender disparity was found in unquestioned cultural beliefs and social norms which relegate women to a subservient position and household duties. The findings also showed that many of the entrepreneurs could be considered opportunity-based entrepreneurs rather than necessity entrepreneurs, and that digital entrepreneurship is a valued functioning for iDEA tenants. With regards to challenges facing digital entrepreneurship in Nigeria, infrastructural/institutional inadequacies, lack of funding opportunities, and unfavourable government policies, were considered inimical to entrepreneurial capabilities in the country.

Keywords: entrepreneurial capabilities, unemployment, business incubators, development

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Authors: Daniela Gnarini

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This paper aims to contribute to the field of immigrants' entrepreneurial performance. The debate on immigrant entrepreneurship has been dominated by cultural explanations, which argue that immigrants’ entrepreneurial results are linked to groups’ characteristics. However, this approach does not consider important dimensions that influence entrepreneurial performances. Furthermore, cultural theories do not take into account the huge differences in performances also within the same ethnic group. For these reason, this study adopts a biographical approach, both at theoretical and at methodological level, which can allow to understand the main aspects that make the difference in immigrants' entrepreneurial performances, by exploring the narratives of immigrant entrepreneurs, who operate in the restaurant sector in two different Italian metropolitan areas: Milan and Rome. Through the qualitative method of biographical interviews, this study analyses four main dimensions and their combinations: a) individuals' entrepreneurial and migratory path: this aspect is particularly relevant to understand the biographical resources of immigrant entrepreneurs and their change and evolution during time; b) entrepreneurs' social capital, with a particular focus on their networks, through the adoption of a transnational perspective, that takes into account both the local level and the transnational connections. This study highlights that, though entrepreneurs’ connections are significant, especially as far as those with family members are concerned, often their entrepreneurial path assumes an individualised trajectory. c) Entrepreneurs' human capital, including both formal education and skills acquired through informal channels. The latter are particularly relevant since in the interviews and data collected the role of informal transmission emerges. d) Embeddedness within the social, political and economic context, to understand the main constraints and opportunities both at local and national level. The comparison between two different metropolitan areas within the same country helps to understand this dimension.

Keywords: biographies, immigrant entrepreneurs, life stories, performance

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Authors: Saurabh Ahluwalia, Sul Kassicieh

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The conventional wisdom has maintained that being in proximity to entrepreneurial ecosystems helps startups to raise financing, develop and grow. In this paper, we examine the effect of a major component of an entrepreneurial ecosystem- financial or venture capital clusters on the exit of a startup through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). We find that the presence of a venture capitalist in a venture capital (VC) cluster is a major success factor for M&A exits. The location of startups in the top VC clusters did not turn out to be significant for success. Our results are robust to different specifications of the model that use different time periods, types of success, the reputation of VC, industry and the quality of the startup company. Our results provide evidence for VCs, startups and policymakers who want to better understand the components of entrepreneurial ecosystems and their relation to the M&A exits of startups.

Keywords: financial institution, mergers and acquisitions, startup financing, venture capital

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Authors: Prabin Raj Gautam

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Entrepreneurship in tourism sectors, particularly hotel entrepreneurship has contributed to Nepalese Gross Domestic Production (GDP). The tourist standard and star hotels in developing countries have not only been generating revenues but also providing international hospitality to the guest in the local areas. For doing so, these hotel enterprises must need to implement different business strategies to enhance and maintain their international business benchmark. The Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is core for making business strategies. Meanwhile, the corruption is labeled as negative factor for economic development. This paper presents the relationship between EO of Nepalese star hotels and organizational corruption. The study employed questionnaire survey as data collection tool under the quantitative methodology. Five hypotheses are developed and tested. After gathering the data form 216 questionnaire distributed to CEOs/Managers of the sample hotels, the findings show that out of five dimensions of EO, only autonomy, pro-activeness, and innovativeness are not significant to organizational corruption; however, risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness are found significant contributor. The descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling are employed to describe the data and fit the model.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, organizational corruption, dimensions

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Authors: Caterina Muzzi, Sergio Albertini, Davide Giacomini

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The research is aimed to investigate the role of young entrepreneurs’ personality traits and their contextual background on the success of entrepreneurial initiatives. In the literature, the debate is still open about the main drivers in predicting entrepreneurial success. Classical theories are focused on looking at specific personality traits that could lead to successful start-ups initiatives, while emerging approaches are more interested in young entrepreneurs’ contextual background (such as the family of origin, the previous experience and their professional network). An online survey was submitted to the participants of an entrepreneurial training initiative organised by the Italian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Confindustria) in Brescia headquarter (AIB). At the time the authors started data collection for this research, the third edition of the initiative was just concluded and involved a total amount of 37 young future entrepreneurs. In the literature General self-efficacy (GSE) and, more specifically, entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) have often been associated to positive performances, as they allow future entrepreneurs to effectively cope with entrepreneurial activities, both at an early stage and in new venture management. In a counter-intuitive manner, optimism is not always associated with entrepreneurial positive results. Too optimistic people risk taking hazardous risks and some authors suggest that moderately optimistic entrepreneurs achieve more positive results than over-optimistic ones. Indeed highly optimistic individuals often hold unrealistic expectations, discount negative information, and mentally reconstruct experiences so as to avoid contradictions The importance of context has been increasingly considered in entrepreneurship literature and its role strongly emerges starting from the earliest entrepreneurial stage and it is crucial to transform the “intention of entrepreneurship” into the actual start-up. Furthermore, coherently with the “network approach to entrepreneurship”, context embeddedness allow future entrepreneurs to leverage relationships built through previous experiences and/or thanks to the fact of belonging to families of entrepreneurs. For the purpose of this research, entrepreneurial success was measured by the fact of having or not founded a new venture after the training initiative. In this research, the authors measured GSE, ESE and optimism using already tested items that showed to be reliable also in this case. They collected 36 completed questionnaires. The t-test for independent samples run to measure significant differences in means between those that already funded the new venture and those that did not. No significant differences emerged with respect to all the tested personality traits, but a logistic regression analysis, run with contextual variables as independent ones, showed that personal and professional networking, made both before and during the master, is the most relevant variable in determining new venture success. These findings shed more light on the process of new venture foundation and could encourage national and local policy makers to invest on networking as one of the main drivers that could support the creation of new ventures.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, networking, new ventures, personality traits

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Authors: Patrick Ebong Ebewo

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The trend of high unemployment levels globally is a growing concern, which suggests that university students especially those studying the creative industries are most likely to face unemployment upon completion of their studies. Therefore the effort of university in fostering entrepreneurial knowledge is equally important to the development of student’s soft skill. The purpose of this paper is to assess the significance of perceived university environment and perceived educational support that influencing University students’ intention in starting their own business in the future. Thus, attempting to answer the question 'How does perceived university environment affect students’ attitude towards entrepreneurship as a career option, perceived entrepreneurial abilities, subjective norm and entrepreneurial intentions?' The study is based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour model adapted from previous studies and empirically tested on graduates at the Tshwane University of Technology. A sample of 150 graduates from the Arts and Design graduates took part in the study and data collected were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Our findings seem to suggest the indirect impact of perceived university environment on entrepreneurial intention through perceived environment support and perceived entrepreneurial abilities. Thus, any increase in perceived university environment might influence students to become entrepreneurs. Based on these results, it is recommended that: (a) Tshwane University of Technology and other universities of technology should establish an ‘Entrepreneurship Internship Programme’ as a tool for stimulated work integrated learning. Post-graduation intervention could be implemented by the development of a ‘Graduate Entrepreneurship Program’ which should be embedded in the Bachelor of Technology (B-Tech now Advance Diploma) and Postgraduate courses; (b) Policymakers should consider the development of a coherent national policy framework that addresses entrepreneurship for the Arts/creative industries sector. This would create the enabling environment for the evolution of Higher Education Institutions from merely Teaching, Learning & Research to becoming drivers for creative entrepreneurship.

Keywords: business venture, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intent, university environment

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Authors: Randa Ismail Sharafeddine

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The Islamic economic system is distinctive in that it implicitly recognizes money as a separate, independent component of production capable of assuming risk and so entitled to the same reward as other Entrepreneurial Factors of Production (EFP). Conventional theory does not identify money capital explicitly as a component of production; rather, interest is recognized as a reward for capital, the interest rate is the cost of money capital, and it is also seen as a cost of physical capital. The conventional theory of production examines how diverse non-entrepreneurial resources (Land, Labor, and Capital) are selected; however, the economic theory community is largely unaware of the reasons why these resources choose to remain as non-entrepreneurial resources as opposed to becoming entrepreneurial resources. Should land, labor, and financial asset owners choose to work for others in return for rent, income, or interest, or should they engage in entrepreneurial risk-taking in order to profit. This is a decision made often in the actual world, but it has never been effectively treated in economic theory. This article will conduct a critical analysis of the conventional classification of factors of production and propose a classification for resource allocation and income distribution (Rent, Wages, Interest, and Profits) that is more rational, even within the conventional theoretical framework for evaluating and developing production and distribution theories. Money is an essential component of production in an Islamic economy, and it must be used to sustain economic activity.

Keywords: financial capital, production theory, distribution theory, economic activity, riba avoidance, institution of participation

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Authors: Eylem Tas

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This empirical study aims to explore the development of students' entrepreneurial skills through problem-based learning within the context of university-industry collaborations (UICs) in curriculum co-design and co-delivery (CDD). The research question guiding this study is: "How do problem-based learning and university-industry collaborations influence the development of students' entrepreneurial skills in the context of curriculum co-design and co-delivery?” To address this question, the study was conducted in a big city in Germany and involved interviews with stakeholders from various industries, including the private sector, government agencies (govt), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These stakeholders had established collaborative partnerships with the targeted university for projects encompassing entrepreneurial development aspects in CDD. The study sought to gain insights into the intricacies and subtleties of UIC dynamics and their impact on fostering entrepreneurial skills. Qualitative content analysis, based on Mayring's guidelines, was employed to analyze the interview transcriptions. Through an iterative process of manual coding, 442 codes were generated, resulting in two main sections: "the role of problem-based learning and UIC in fostering entrepreneurship" and "challenges and requirements of problem-based learning within UIC for systematical entrepreneurship development.” The chosen experimental approach of semi-structured interviews was justified by its capacity to provide in-depth perspectives and rich data from stakeholders with firsthand experience in UICs in CDD. By enlisting participants with diverse backgrounds, industries, and company sizes, the study ensured a comprehensive and heterogeneous sample, enhancing the credibility of the findings. The first section of the analysis delved into problem-based learning and entrepreneurial self-confidence to gain a deeper understanding of UIC dynamics from an industry standpoint. It explored factors influencing problem-based learning, alignment of students' learning styles and preferences with the experiential learning approach, specific activities and strategies, and the role of mentorship from industry professionals in fostering entrepreneurial self-confidence. The second section focused on various interactions within UICs, including communication, knowledge exchange, and collaboration. It identified key elements, patterns, and dynamics of interaction, highlighting challenges and limitations. Additionally, the section emphasized success stories and notable outcomes related to UICs' positive impact on students' entrepreneurial journeys. Overall, this research contributes valuable insights into the dynamics of UICs and their role in fostering students' entrepreneurial skills. UICs face challenges in communication and establishing a common language. Transparency, adaptability, and regular communication are vital for successful collaboration. Realistic expectation management and clearly defined frameworks are crucial. Responsible data handling requires data assurance and confidentiality agreements, emphasizing the importance of trust-based relationships when dealing with data sharing and handling issues. The identified key factors and challenges provide a foundation for universities and industrial partners to develop more effective UIC strategies for enhancing students' entrepreneurial capabilities and preparing them for success in today's digital age labor market. The study underscores the significance of collaborative learning and transparent communication in UICs for entrepreneurial development in CDD.

Keywords: collaborative learning, curriculum co-design and co-delivery, entrepreneurial skills, problem-based learning, university-industry collaborations

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Authors: Rui Xing, Xiaowen Zhao, Hao Huang, Chang Liu

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Creativity is regarded as vital for new ventures' development since the whole process of entrepreneurship is rooted in the creation and exploration of new ideas. The entrepreneurial leader is central to the entrepreneurial team, who plays an especially important role in this process. However, few scholars have studied the impact entrepreneurs' leadership styles on the creativity of entrepreneurial teams. In this study, we integrate the historically disjointed literatures of leadership style and team creativity under entrepreneurship circumstance to understand why and when entrepreneurs' different leadership style relates to team creativity. Focus on answering the following questions: Is humility leadership necessarily better than narcissism leadership at increasing the creativity of entrepreneurial teams? Moreover, in which situations humility leadership or narcissism leadership is more conducive to the entrepreneurial team's creativity? Based on the componential theory of creativity and entrepreneurial cognition theory, we explore the relationship between entrepreneurs' leadership style and team creativity, treating team cognitive diversity and environmental uncertainty as moderators and psychological empowerment as mediators. We tested our hypotheses using data gathered from 64 teams and 256 individual members from 53 new firms in China's first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. We found that there was a significant positive relation between entrepreneurs' humble leadership and psychological empowerment, and the more significant the positive correlation was when the environmental uncertainty was high. In addition, there was a significant negative relation between entrepreneurs' narcissistic leadership and psychological empowerment, and the negative relation was weaker in teams with a high team cognitive diversity value. Furthermore, both entrepreneurs' humble leadership and team psychological empowerment were significantly positively related to team creativity. While entrepreneurs' narcissistic leadership was negatively related to team creativity, and the negative relationship was weaker in teams with a high team cognitive diversity or a high environmental uncertainty value. This study has some implications for both scholars and entrepreneurs. Firstly, our study enriches the understanding of the role of leadership in entrepreneurial team creativity. Different from previous team creativity literatures, focusing on TMT and R&D team, this study is a significant attempt to demonstrate that entrepreneurial leadership style is particularly relevant to the core requirements of team creativity. Secondly, this study introduces two moderating variables, cognitive diversity and environmental uncertainty, to explore the different boundary conditions under which the two leadership styles play their roles, which is helpful for entrepreneurs to understand how to leverage leadership to improve entrepreneurial team creativity, how to recruit cognitively diverse employees to moderate the effects of inappropriate leadership to the team. Finally, our findings showed that entrepreneurs' humble leadership makes a unique contribution to explaining team creativity through team psychological empowerment.

Keywords: entrepreneurs’ leadership style, entrepreneurial team creativity, team psychological empowerment, team cognitive diversity, environmental uncertainty

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Authors: Anmari Viljamaa, Elina Varamäki

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In this study we compare the profiles of transitory hybrid entrepreneurs and persistent hybrid entrepreneurs to determine how they differ. Hybrid entrepreneurs (HEs) represent a significant share of entrepreneurial activity yet little is known about them. We define HEs as individuals who are active as entrepreneurs but do no support themselves primarily by their enterprise. Persistent HEs (PHEs) are not planning to transition to fulltime entrepreneurship whereas transitory HEs (THEs) consider it probable. Our results show that THEs and PHEs are quite similar in background. THEs are more interested in increasing their turnover than PHEs, as expected, but also emphasize self-fulfillment as a motive for entrepreneurship more than PHEs. The clearest differences between THEs and PHEs are found in their views on how well their immediate circle supports full-time entrepreneurship, and their views of their own entrepreneurial abilities and the market potential of their firm. Our results support earlier arguments that hybrids should be considered separately in research on entrepreneurial entry and self-employment.

Keywords: hybrid entrepreneurship, part-time entrepreneurship, self-employment, Theory of Planned Behavior

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Authors: Zhang Qingzhong

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Though there exists an increasing number of research studies on the headquarters-subsidiary relationship, and within this context, there is a focus on subsidiaries' contributory role to multinational corporations (MNC), subsidiary autonomy, and the conditions under which autonomy exerts an effect on subsidiary performance still constitute a subject of debate in the literature. The objective of this research is to study the MNC subsidiary autonomy and performance relationship and the effect of subsidiary entrepreneurial orientation and trust on subsidiary autonomy in the China environment, a phenomenon that has not yet been studied. The research addresses the following three questions: (i) Is subsidiary autonomy associated with MNC subsidiary performance in the China environment? (ii) How do subsidiary entrepreneurship and its trust in headquarters affect the level of subsidiary autonomy and its relationship with subsidiary performance? (iii) Does subsidiary autonomy have a mediating effect on subsidiary performance with subsidiary’s entrepreneurship and trust in headquarters? In the present study, we have reviewed literature and conducted semi-structured interviews with multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiary senior executives in China. Building on our insights from the interviews and taking perspectives from four theories, namely the resource-based view (RBV), resource dependency theory, integration-responsiveness framework, and social exchange theory, as well as the extant articles on subsidiary autonomy, entrepreneurial orientation, trust, and subsidiary performance, we have developed a model and have explored the direct and mediating effects of subsidiary autonomy on subsidiary performance within the framework of the MNC. To test the model, we collected and analyzed data based on cross-industry two waves of an online survey from 102 subsidiaries of MNCs in China. We used structural equation modeling to test measurement, direct effect model, and conceptual framework with hypotheses. Our findings confirm that (a) subsidiary autonomy is positively related to subsidiary performance; (b) subsidiary entrepreneurial orientation is positively related to subsidiary autonomy; (c) subsidiary’s trust in headquarters has a positive effect on subsidiary autonomy; (d) subsidiary autonomy mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and subsidiary performance; (e) subsidiary autonomy mediates the relationship between trust and subsidiary performance. Our study highlights the important role of subsidiary autonomy in leveraging the resource of subsidiary entrepreneurial orientation and its trust relationship with headquarters to achieve high performance. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings and propose directions for future research.

Keywords: subsidiary entrepreneurial orientation, trust, subsidiary autonomy, subsidiary performance

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Authors: Svetlana Gudkova

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The Internet of Things experiences a rapid growth bringing inevitable changes into many spheres of human activities. As the Internet has changed the social and business landscape, IoT as its extension, can bring much more profound changes in economic value creation and competitiveness of the economies. It has been already recognized as the next industrial revolution. However, the development of IoT is in a great extent stimulated by the entrepreneurial activity. To expand and reach its full potential it requires proactive entrepreneurs, who explore the potential and create innovative ideas pushing the boundaries of IoT technologies' application further. The goal of the research is to analyze, how entrepreneurs utilize the opportunities created by IoT and how do they stimulate the development of IoT through discovering of new ways of generating economic value and creating opportunities, which attract other entrepreneurs. The qualitative research methods have been applied to prepare the case studies. Entrepreneurs are recognized as an engine of economic growth. They introduce innovative products and services into the market through the creation of a new combination of the existing resources and utilizing new knowledge. Entrepreneurs not only create economic value but what is more important, they challenge the existing business models and invent new ways of value creation. Through identification and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities, they create new opportunities for other entrepreneurs. It makes the industry more attractive to other profit/innovation-driven start-ups. IoT creates numerous opportunities for entrepreneurs in the different industries. Smart cities, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, agriculture, smart vehicles and smart buildings benefit a lot from IoT-based breakthrough innovations introduced by entrepreneurs. They reinvented successfully the business models and created new entrepreneurial opportunities for other start-ups to introduce next innovations.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, internet of things, breakthrough innovations, start-ups

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Authors: Muhammad Umar Usman

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This study investigates the entrepreneurial intentions, drivers and challenges of starting a business among final year students in Jigawa State polytechnic. Nigeria. Final year students of Jigawa State Polytechnic from the department of accounting, business administration and management and public administration were used as a case study. The study became necessary due to the alarming rate of graduate unemployment in Nigeria. The study adopted a holistic case study approach involving a multiple methods of questionnaires involving (182) Higher National Diploma (HND) and National Diploma (ND) final year students and a telephone interview with two lecturers teaching entrepreneurship in the college. The findings clearly indicate that exposer to entrepreneurship education increases students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The result found that desire for independence, confidence and strong intention are the most important factors that influence students’ entrepreneurial intention. The study identified 3 key drivers of students’ entrepreneurial intentions. These are to earn a living, to seek job security and provision of employment. The result again identified 4 factors namely lack of support, finance, insecurity and erratic power supply as the major challenges in starting a business in Nigeria. It was also revealed that the current entrepreneurship education programme prepares students on how to open up a business not becoming an entrepreneur. The study concluded entrepreneurship helps students toward building and driving their intention to venture into business. However, the challenges of entrepreneurship in Nigeria need to be addressed in order to enable individuals to become an entrepreneur and create employment opportunities that will lead to the development of Nigerian economy. Thus, the government should provide adequate support particularly the issue of infrastructures. The Federal Government of Nigeria in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education should fashion out the curriculum thereby making it more practically-oriented so that students may become more interested. Polytechnics should develop an internship programme for students to work in firms so as to put theory learnt in the class to practice. Students should try to align the theory learnt in college with the practical application in dynamic economic environment. Hence, this will help in building their capabilities toward entrepreneurship development in Nigeria.

Keywords: entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial drivers, challenges, entrepreneurial education

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Authors: Berger Aida

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Social entrepreneurship has emerged as an active area of practice and research within the last three decades and has called for a focus on Social Entrepreneurship innovation. Areas such as academics, practitioners , institutions or governments have placed Social Entrepreneurship on the priority list of reflexion and action. It has been accepted that Social entrepreneurship (SE) shares large similarities with its parent, Traditional Entrepreneurship (TE). SE has grown over the past ten years exploring entrepreneurial cognition and the analysis of the ways of thinking of entrepreneurs. The research community believes that value exists in grounding entrepreneurship in neuroscience and notes that SE, like Traditional Entrepreneurship, needs to undergo efforts in clarification, definition and differentiation. Moreover, gaps in SE research call for integrative multistage and multilevel framework for further research. The cognitive processes underpinning entrepreneurial action are similar for SE and TE even if Social Entrepreneurship orientation shows an increased empathy value. Theoretically, there is a need to develop sound models of how to process functions and how to work more effectively as entrepreneurs and research on efficiency improvement calls for the analysis of the most common practices in entrepreneurship. Multitasking has been recognized as a daily and unavoidable habit of entrepreneurs. Hence, we believe in the need of analyzing the multiple task phenomena as a methodology for skill acquisition. We will conduct our paper including Social Entrepreneurship within the wider spectrum of Traditional Entrepreneurship, for the purpose of simplifying the neuroscientific lecture of the entrepreneurial cognition. A question to be inquired is to know if there is a way of developing multitasking habits in order to improve entrepreneurial skills such as speed of information processing , creativity and adaptability . Nevertheless, the direct link between the neuroscientific approach to multitasking and entrepreneurship effectiveness is yet to be uncovered. That is why an extensive Literature Review on Multitasking is a propos.

Keywords: cognitive, entrepreneurial, empathy, multitasking

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Authors: Eno Jah Tabogo

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The aim of this research is to identify and examine current deficiencies in entrepreneurial training in improving the performance of small businesses in sub Saharan Africa economies. This research achieves this by examining the course content, training methods, and profiles of trainers and trainees of small business service providers in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) to identify training deficiencies in improving small businesses. Data was for the analysis was collected from a sample of four entrepreneurial training providers in SSA. These four providers served an average of 1,500 trainees. Questionnaire was used to collect data via face to face and through telephone. Face validity was determined by distributing the questionnaire among a group of colleagues, followed by a group discussion to strengthen the validity of the questionnaire. Interviews were also held with managers of training programs. Content and descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data collected. The results indicated only 25% of the training content were entrepreneurial. In terms of service provided, both business, entrepreneurial, technical and after-care services were identified. It was also discovered that owners of training firms had no formal entrepreneurship background. The paper contributes by advocating for a comprehensive entrepreneurship-training program for successful small business enterprises. Recommendations that could help sustain emerging small business enterprises and direction for further research are presented.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, emerging markets, small business, training

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Authors: Kurotimi Maurice Fems, Abara Onu, Francis W. D. Poazi

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Scholars and development economists believe that the development of an economy depends largely on the creative and innovative ingenuity of its entrepreneurs. Others however, are of the opinion that the lack of entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial activities is not a constraint to economic development in any economy, particularly Nigeria. This paper sets out to explore the connectivity between entrepreneurship and economic development from a theoretical point of view, principally in Nigeria. A desk research approach was adopted where a conglomerate of literatures was reviewed on how entrepreneurship can spur economic growth or otherwise. The findings reveal that entrepreneurship is vital to the development of Nigeria and that, universities and other Higher Education Institutions must play the vital role of educating the people on entrepreneurship skills and competences. However, the problems and difficulties entrepreneurs face in Nigeria and the same problems suffocating the growth and development of its economy. Therefore, entrepreneurship cannot be said to be the sole cure for economic under-development in Nigeria but rather other factors such as empowering and granting the institutions autonomy and the provision of infrastructural capability, such as consistent electricity generation and supply, good system of transportation, implementing proposed economic policies in an effective and efficient manner etc., the cultural beliefs and mindset of the citizenry, was also found to be key in the development of any economy.

Keywords: economic underdevelopment, entrepreneurial, entrepreneurship, infrastructural under-development, oil boom, SMEs, unemployable

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Authors: Stella Chioma Nwizu, Emmanuel Nwangwu

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Entrepreneurship, Vocational, and Technical education is an education that prepares one for effective adaptation to the world of work. It equally makes individuals self-reliant, self-sufficient and contributes to the development of society. It is, therefore, imperative that this type of education should be a priority in the development of any nation and should be given the utmost political support because of its importance and increasing demand on a global scale. This paper qualitatively explores three research questions on the policy status of Entrepreneurial, Vocational, and Technical Education (EVTE) in Nigeria, challenges hindering the enhancement of Entrepreneurial skills, Vocational and Technical Education in Nigeria, and strategies for the way forward. The major sources of data are secondary, interview and observation. Findings revealed the need to revise the policy of ETVE to meet the needs of the changing world of work. Challenges identified include corruption, inadequate funding, inadequate equipment, unqualified TVET Teachers/Instructors, poor documentation, policy implementation, poor conditions of service, and poor supervision of TVET programmes. Finally, the study identified policy revision, improvement in budgetary allocation, collaboration, sensitization, Public-Private Partnership, and training and retraining of instructors as the way forward toward the amelioration of the issues raised.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial skills, vocational and technical education, technical and vocational education and training, VTE policy

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Authors: Muhammad Ali, Aamir Sohail, Umair Malik

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Research in entrepreneurship has gained much attention in current academic environment. Youngsters are taking interest to start their own business in spite of risk matter. The objective of the study is to explain how various personality traits (personal attitude, locus of control, instrumental readiness and perceived behavioral control) are affecting entrepreneurial intention of students. The theory of planned behavior supports out study which explains that personal attractiveness, social norms and feasibility are the main factors that affect intentions of an individual. The sample data of 120 is collected from graduating batch of three reputed universities of Islamabad through questionnaires. Our results support the hypothesis that personality traits positively influence the entrepreneurial intention. We conclude from the study that many graduating students are willing to start a new venture, but most of them are likely to do a job in their respective fields. Risk factor also exists in their minds because in our country most people are risk-averse and they do not want to lose their money in case of loss.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, instrumental readiness, locus of control, personal attitude

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Authors: Rylyne Mande Nchu, Robertson Tengeh, Chux Iwu

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Blended learning is a global phenomenon and is essential to many institutes of learning as an additional method of teaching that complements more traditional methods of learning. In this paper, the lack of practice of a blended learning approach to entrepreneurship education and how it impacts learners' perception of being entrepreneurial. E-learning is in its infancy within the secondary and high school sectors in South Africa. The conceptual framework of the study is based on theoretical aspects of systemic-constructivist learning implemented in an interactive online learning environment in an entrepreneurship education subject. The formative evaluation research was conducted implementing mixed methods of research (quantitative and qualitative) and it comprised a survey of high school learners and informant interviewing with entrepreneurs. Theoretical analysis of literature provides features necessary for creating interactive blended learning environments to be used in entrepreneurship education subject. Findings of the study show that learners do not always objectively evaluate their capacities. Special attention has to be paid to the development of learners’ computer literacy as well as to the activities that would bring online learning to practical training. Needs analysis shows that incorporating blended learning in entrepreneurship education may have a positive perception of entrepreneurship.

Keywords: blended learning, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship intention, entrepreneurial skills

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Authors: Manzurul Alam, John Griffiths, David Holloway, Megan Paull, Anne Clear

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Background: This paper investigates the nature of risk management practices in non-profit organizations. It is argued here that the risk exposure of these organizations has increased as a result of their entrepreneurial activities. This study explores how a particular non-profit organization formulates its risk strategies in the face funding restrictions. Design/Method/Approach: The study adopts a case study approach to report the results on how a non-profit organization diversifies its activities, tackles risks arising from such activities and improves performance. Results: The findings show that the organization made structural adjustments and leadership changes which helped to adjust their risk strategies. It also reports the organizational processes to deal with risks arising from both related and unrelated diversification strategies. Implications: Any generalization from this case example needs to be taken with caution as there are significant differences between non-profit organizations operating in different sectors. Originality: The paper makes a significant contribution to the non-profit literature by highlighting the diversification strategies along with risk performance.

Keywords: risk management, performance management, non-profit organizations, financial management

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Authors: Sonal H. Singh, Bhaskar Bhowmick

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The research hypothesis formulated in this paper examines the importance of microfinance provision for entrepreneurship development by engendering a high level of entrepreneurial orientation among the grassroots entrepreneurs. A theoretically well supported empirical framework is proposed to identify the influence of financial services and non-financial services provided by microfinance institutes in strengthening the impact of grassroots innovation on entrepreneurial orientation under resource constraints. In this paper, Grassroots innovation is perceived in three dimensions: new learning practice, localized solution, and network development. The study analyzes the moderating effect of microfinance provision on the relationship between grassroots innovation and entrepreneurial orientation. The paper employed structural equation modelling on 400 data entries from the grassroots entrepreneurs in India. The research intends to help policymakers, entrepreneurs and microfinance providers to promote the innovative design of microfinance services for the well-being of grassroots entrepreneurs and to foster sustainable entrepreneurship development.

Keywords: entrepreneurship development, grassroots innovation, India, structural equation model

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Authors: Sherry Robinson, Hans Anton Stubberud

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Entrepreneurship can take many forms. Traditional entrepreneurs seek profits and growth for the businesses they start themselves. Intrapreneurs act entrepreneurially within a business they do not own. Social entrepreneurs have goals other than (but not excluding) profit and growth as they seek to solve social problems or protect the environment. This type of entrepreneur often focuses on the triple bottom line, which includes a concern for people and the planet as well as profit. Ecopreneurs in particular are driven by their desire to create and promote environmentally sustainable products and processes. All of these entrepreneurs need an entrepreneurial orientation in order to survive and thrive. The three most common elements of an entrepreneurial orientation are (1) creativity and innovation, (2) the willingness to take risks and (3) the proactiveness to put ideas into action. This study describes an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship course integrating topics regarding the triple bottom line with those relevant to an entrepreneurial orientation. The results show that students significantly increased their skill levels in many areas, including soft skills such as communicating and working in teams, as well as designing innovative products and taking calculated risk.

Keywords: creativity, entrepreneurship education, sustainability, triple bottom line

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Authors: Yen Yen Tan, Lynn Lam, Cynthia Lam, Angela Koh, Edwin Seng

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Entrepreneurial education plays a crucial role in nurturing future innovators and change-makers. Over time, significant progress has been made in refining instructional approaches to develop the necessary skills among learners effectively. Two highly valuable frameworks, Kearney's "4 Principles of Entrepreneurial Pedagogy" and Bloom's "Three Domains of Learning," serve as guiding principles in entrepreneurial education. Kearney's principles align with experiential and student-centric learning, which are crucial for cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset. The potential synergies between these frameworks hold great promise for enhancing entrepreneurial acumen among students. However, despite this potential, their integration remains largely unexplored. This study aims to bridge this gap by building upon the Business Essentials through Action (BETA) module and investigating its contributions to nurturing the entrepreneurial mindset. This study employs a quasi-experimental mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative elements to ensure comprehensive and insightful data. A cohort of 235 students participated, with 118 enrolled in the BETA module and 117 in a traditional curriculum. Their Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs) were assessed before admission (pre-Y1) and one year into the course (post-Y1) using a comprehensive 55-item PEC questionnaire, enabling measurement of critical traits such as opportunity-seeking, persistence, and risk-taking. Rigorous computations of individual entrepreneurial competencies and overall PEC scores were performed, including a correction factor to mitigate potential self-assessment bias. The orchestration of Kearney's principles and Bloom's domains within the BETA module necessitates a granular examination. Here, qualitative revelations surface, courtesy of structured interviews aligned with contemporary research methodologies. These interviews act as a portal, ushering us into the transformative journey undertaken by students. Meanwhile, the study pivots to explore the BETA module's influence on students' entrepreneurial competencies from the vantage point of faculty members. A symphony of insights emanates from intimate focus group discussions featuring six dedicated lecturers, who share their perceptions, experiences, and reflective narratives, illuminating the profound impact of pedagogical practices embedded within the BETA module. Preliminary findings from ongoing data analysis indicate promising results, showcasing a substantial improvement in entrepreneurial skills among students participating in the BETA module. This study promises not only to elevate students' entrepreneurial competencies but also to illuminate the broader canvas of applicability for Kearney's principles and Bloom's domains. The dynamic interplay of quantitative analyses, proffering precise competency metrics, and qualitative revelations, delving into the nuanced narratives of transformative journeys, engenders a holistic understanding of this educational endeavour. Through a rigorous quasi-experimental mixed-methods approach, this research aims to establish the BETA module's effectiveness in fostering entrepreneurial acumen among students at Singapore Polytechnic, thereby contributing valuable insights to the broader discourse on educational methodologies.

Keywords: entrepreneurial education, experiential learning, pedagogical frameworks, innovative competencies

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Authors: William Castillo, Hugo Viza, Arturo Vargas

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The Pacific Alliance is a trade bloc that is composed of four emerging economies: Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. These economies have gained macroeconomic stability in the past decade and as a consequence present future economic progress. Under this positive scenario, international business firms have flourished. However, the literature in this region has been widely unexamined. Therefore, it is critical to fill this theoretical gap, especially considering that Latin America is starting to become a global player and it possesses a different institutional context than developed markets. This paper analyzes the effect of international entrepreneurial orientation and institutionalism on international performance, for the Pacific Alliance small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). The literature considers international entrepreneurial orientation to be a powerful managerial capability – along the resource based view- that firms can leverage to obtain a satisfactory international performance. Thereby, obtaining a competitive advantage through the correct allocation of key resources to exploit the capabilities here involved. Entrepreneurial Orientation is defined around five factors: innovation, proactiveness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Nevertheless, the institutional environment – both local and foreign, adversely affects International Performance; this is especially the case for emerging markets with uncertain scenarios. In this way, the study analyzes an Entrepreneurial Orientation, key endogenous variable of international performance, and Institutionalism, an exogenous variable. The survey data consists of Pacific Alliance SMEs that have foreign operations in at least another country in the trade bloc. Findings are still in an ongoing research process. Later, the study will undertake a structural equation modeling (SEM) using the variance-based partial least square estimation procedure. The software that is going to be used is the SmartPLS. This research contributes to the theoretical discussion of a largely postponed topic: SMEs in Latin America, that has had limited academic research. Also, it has practical implication for decision-makers and policy-makers, providing insights into what is behind international performance.

Keywords: institutional theory, international entrepreneurial orientation, international performance, SMEs, Pacific Alliance

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Authors: Mohit Taneja, Ravi Kiran, S. C. Bose

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Entrepreneurs’ role in achieving Sustainable development goals is crucial as the growth potential of any region depends upon the number and the success rate of entrepreneurial firms. This paper is an effort to examine the relationship between Sustainable growth (SG) with Entrepreneurial attitude (EA) and Entrepreneurial intention (EI) in the context of the Indian economy. The mediation effect of EI between EA and SG has been considered. Partial least square (PLS) –Structural Equation Model (SEM) software was used to design the framework. Students enrolled in entrepreneurship courses of higher educational institutes (HEI) of Punjab, Haryana, and the National Capital Region NCR were contacted for data collection. The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) framework was used in selecting HEIs and data collected from 589 students was considered for analysis. McGee’s multi-dimensional scale for measuring ESE and the scale of Linan & Chen for measuring EI & ES (SG) was used. Results highlight that EA has a strong impact on EI (p≤ 0.001) and EI has a positive and strong relationship with SG (ES) as β value for the same is 0.683 (p≤ 0.001). The current study also reflects the mediating effect of EI among EA and ES, as the results show that the combined β value of both EA and EI (i.e.0.684*0.683= 0.467) is more than the direct influence of EA on ES (β=0.265). EA, with the mediating effect of EI can enhance the opportunity for achieving SG, which suggests that in order to increase the venture success rate and to attain SG, emphasis should be given to EI along with EA. The study has been investigated in three regions of India. Future studies can be extended to other South Asian countries for generalization.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, sustainable growth, entrepreneurship intention, entrepreneurship attitude

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Authors: Wangshi Yong, Wei Shi, Jing Zou, Qiang Li, Yilin Tian

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With the advancement of the reform of China’s housing security system, the impact is becoming increasingly profound. This paper explores the relationship between the housing security system and household entrepreneurship on the 2017 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) and conducts a large number of robustness checks, including PSM and IV estimation. The results show that the assistance of the housing security system will significantly promote family entrepreneurship, increasing the probability of entrepreneurship by 2%. Its internal mechanism is mainly achieved by relaxing liquidity constraints and increasing household social capital. However, the risk preference effect has not existed. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive impact of the housing security system on family entrepreneurship is mainly reflected in areas with high housing prices and incomes, as well as households with long-term security and social or commercial insurance. Meanwhile, it also verifies that the positive externalities of the housing security system will also positively affect active entrepreneurial motivation, entrepreneurial intensity, and entrepreneurial innovation.

Keywords: the housing security system, household entrepreneurship, social capital, liquidity constraints, risk preference

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Authors: Elisabeth Unterfrauner, Christian Voigt

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Since the foundation of the first Fab Lab by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about 17 years ago, the Maker movement has spread globally with the foundation of maker spaces and Fab Labs worldwide. In these workshops, citizens have access to digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printers and laser cutters to develop and test their own ideas and prototypes, which makes it an attractive place for start-up companies. Know-How is shared not only in the physical space but also online in diverse communities. According to the Horizon report, the Maker movement, however, will also have an impact on educational settings in the following years. The European project ‘DOIT - Entrepreneurial skills for young social innovators in an open digital world’ has incorporated key elements of making to develop an early entrepreneurial education program for children between the age of six and 16. The Maker pedagogy builds on constructive learning approaches, learning by doing principles, learning in collaborative and interdisciplinary teams and learning through trial and error where mistakes are acknowledged as learning opportunities. The DOIT program consists of seven consecutive elements. It starts with a motivation phase where students get motivated by envisioning the scope of their possibilities. The second step is about Co-design: Students are asked to collect and select potential ideas for innovations. In the Co-creation phase students gather in teams and develop first prototypes of their ideas. In the iteration phase, the prototype is continuously improved and in the next step, in the reflection phase, feedback on the prototypes is exchanged between the teams. In the last two steps, scaling and reaching out, the robustness of the prototype is tested with a bigger group of users outside of the educational setting and finally students will share their projects with a wider public. The DOIT program involves 1,000 children in two pilot phases at 11 pilot sites in ten different European countries. The comprehensive evaluation design is based on a mixed method approach with a theoretical backbone on Lackeus’ model of entrepreneurship education, which distinguishes between entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial knowledge. A pre-post-test with quantitative measures as well as qualitative data from interviews with facilitators, students and workshop protocols will reveal the effectiveness of the program. The evaluation results will be presented at the conference.

Keywords: early entrepreneurial education, Fab Lab, maker education, Maker movement

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